My traps with holes drilled through the bottom boards keep getting clogged. Mostly it's cardboard starter strips the bees are removing :( but there's also wax, pollen, bee legs etc.Took some advice from the forum and packed down all the hives with spare room, took boxes off some. It has already made a huge difference, but the traps are making a difference too.

The key to using Fipronil is to use a system which the bees cannot get to, but the SHB can

I prefer to use the plastic corrugated traps and just throw them out when they are clogged. I have made some reusable traps with the same chemical out of CD cases. Some already have small holes in the edges or you could just drill some small holes in the edges that the bees can't fit through.

Anyone use the entrance traps? I have been checking out the beetle jail trap and it looks like that one combined with a SBB trap andnot allowing any other openings into the hive should be a good first line of defense. Opinions?

They will crawl down the front of the bottom box and into the entrance from the top, upside down and never touch the SBB. Seen it. But you need to kill them in the hive. Try everything in there. And don't forget to drench the ground with Gardstar to kill them before they come out of the ground.

Yeah, I planned to use the guardstar but I wonder if the nematodes are effective as well. I guess one can't use both. I also planned on sheet tin under the boxes as well. I have several sections of the heavy guage stuff used for pouring concrete that will get pretty hot in the sun.

I went around my Hives yesterday and I could'nt find and SHB I looked real hard and the girls were pleased when I finally left them alone. All my commercial roach baits are still intact and not waxed up which is surprising.

Today my Beetle Jails arrived from the USA I am very pleased they took no time to get here and look tops.I will load them up with cheap vege oil and place them in the hives on my next inspection.

The Gel had more SHB... but this really wasn't a scientific study. The Gels were placed on top of the inner cover and the Checkmite was on the SBB... could have just been more SHB up top at the point in time.

The Gel had more SHB... but this really wasn't a scientific study. The Gels were placed on top of the inner cover and the Checkmite was on the SBB... could have just been more SHB up top at the point in time.

...DOUGKD4MOJ

Maybe this spring we can do a test here. But it would be nice to see which way there is out there to kill the most beetles.

I've been toying with several baits/traps for SHB. I'm currently trying a system recommended by the Ag folks down under that uses a thin square of plywood that is coated on the underside with D.E. and propped up a little with a Popsicle stick. The thought being that the hive beetle will crawl under it to hide and the D.E. cuts into its antennae.

I just started the trials last week and have no results yet but I'm encouraged.

Scott

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Anyone use the entrance traps? I have been checking out the beetle jail trap and it looks like that one combined with a SBB trap andnot allowing any other openings into the hive should be a good first line of defense. Opinions?

The entrance traps are nice but price adds up quickly if you have more than a couple of hives. The groove around the actual bee entrance channels the beetles not to have a opening into the hive and to fall into the oil reservoir. Nice, well thought out design. With the combination of the entrance trap and the frame hung beetle jail traps the beetles should be well controlled if the other openings are closed. I use some fruit in the center of the three chambers of the frame hung beetle jail as bait and they have worked well. I hope they never become as bad as the folks deal with in the more southern regions.

The cd case trap is a beautiful idea. I see in numerous vid clips that maxpro paste is used. This is not available in South Africa. What alternative can be used or what are the active ingredients of maxpro. The other roach baits I could find clearly state that they must not be used near foorstuffs.Beyers

A local commercial beek has been using Diatomaceous earth in trays under his sbb's and he says that when they fall into it they just wander around in circles and die because of it getting on their antennas and they cannot navigate.

Hey, I did a search on Google for SHB and fipronil and landed here. I recognize it is not approved for use in a USA hive.That being said, I recognized it is the active ingredient in an ant trap that you can get at the grocery store. The opening is too small for bees. I might put some on my SBB (screened bottom board) and see how they do.

I tried lots of things last year. I had some of the barns which seemed to work initially but later in the season the beetles appeared to ignore the traps. I took to banging them off frames into soapy water to keep the numbers down. I do hope I can keep a better handle on things this year.